English ‘Aqidah Tahawiyyah Translations and Commentaries

For a while now, I have been collecting a number of translations of the famous al-‘Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah for the purpose of rendering a new and more accessible translation for some of my students. Given the verbiage of some translations and the inaccuracy of others, it was important to look through all the other existing works before embarking on a new one.

After looking through all the translations, it seemed that Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s was, for the most part, the most true to the Arabic and precise in the English. Although I have differed from his translation in a number of places, I found that his use of terms and style best reflected the original Arabic text.

Although I have not yet finalized my modified version of Shaykh Hamza’s translation, I wished to provide a list of existing translations and commentaries in English for the readers of the blog, most of which I came across during the editing process.

A17. The Ash’arees follow the ‘aqeedah which this Imam was upon initially but they leave
the madhab of ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah which the Imaam became established upon in the
latter part of his life. Their ascribing themselves to this great Imaam is therefore an
incorrect ascription.

Respected brother Zia. I am glad that you asked this question. Because the site has not been officially launched, the About section is not complete, so there can be confusion as to the intent and content of the blog.

The blog is meant to be a resource site for students and scholars. In meeting that purpose, the contributors will try to make available and comment on all types of books regardless of their author or viewpoints.

In other words, the website is not meant to propagate any particular way of thinking. It is simply a forum where fellow students and scholars can discuss, analyze, and review books as well as share links to any academic material that is out there.

The posting of a link for any particular book, therefore, should not be construed as an endorsement of the book or its content.

May Allah allow us all to benefit from this site and allow us to see the truth from falsehood.

Now Available!!! Lum’at ul-I’tiqaad – The Luminance of the [Hanbali] Creed: The Creed of the Ahl us-Sunnah vol. 1 By Imaam Muwaffaq ud-Deen Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdasi/ rendered into English by Abu Muhammad Ibraheem

The Author of this text is Imaam Muwaffaq ud-Deen Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdasi, d.620 A profound scholar of the traditional Hanbali madh-hab, Direct student of Shaykh ‘Abdul Qaadir al-Jilaani, and Defender of Jerusalem under the leadership of Saladin al-Ayyubi.

The Holy Prophet [saw] said: “Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Khalifahs that come after me. Bite upon it with your molar teeth [nawaakhidh] and beware of newly invented matters, for certainly every newly invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is a misguidance”

Ibn Qudaamah highlights the creed of the Ahl us-Sunnah as refutes the innovations of those who have gone astray. This book “Lum’at ul-I’tiqaad” i.e. the Luminance of Creed, serves as a guiding light to the correct path, the path of the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah.

This book has dedicated chapters regarding Allah’s Mutashaabihah Attrubutes and the approach of the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah regarding them, The Qur’an being the Eternal uncreated Speech of Allah, The Believers vision of Allah on Yawm ul-Qiyaamah, Imaan and what it consists of, the rights of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam, and the excellence of the Sahaabah radyAllah anhum.

This book also holds Imaam Ahmad Bin Hanbal’s treatise on creed Usul us-Sunnah which is along the very same lines of Lum’at ul-I’tiqaad.

As a extra bonus chapters there are four appendices:

1. Who are the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah

2. Regarding the Ash’aris and Maturidis

3. The Understanding Bid’ah According to Traditional Islam

4. Following a Madh-hab

This book is a valuable contribution deserving to be read by every Muslim [and non-Muslim] sincerely interested in traditional Muslim creed.

Translations is very important it is a way to communicate with other people, specially those people that has a different dialect, translators well be the frontliners to communicate with them, and to have communication.

I don’t believe it is a good idea to focus translating classical books. This is for many reasons the main one being that we should be presenting the ideas and concepts present in the classical books in a more coherent fashion for the layman to understand.

For example Aqida Tahawiyya is all over the place. It can be far better arranged in terms of topics. The entirity of Aqida Tahawiyya can be explained in a page if one desires and a person might walk away with a better understanding than actually going through the Aqida Tahawiyya. The reason for Aqida Tahawiyya is not presented in an organized fashion is because it is an early book and they were generally less organized. Now compare this to later books like the aqida book by Shaykh Salih al-Farfur recently translated into English or the commentary of Allamah Bajuri on Jawharat – you will see what I mean by more organized and systematic

In fact when Mufti Abdur Rahman did a workshop in Toronto on aqida he did not go through Aqida Tahawiyya or Fiqh al Akbar. Rather he produced new original material.